Danish minister condemns Gaffa removal of 30-year-old artist

Danish Culture Minister Zenia Stampe has criticised music magazine Gaffa for removing artist Alice AI from its talent list after learning that she had turned 30, DR reported.

“This needs to be redone,” Stampe wrote in a Facebook post. She described the age limit as “completely misguided”.

Alice AI, whose legal name is Julie Schmidt Nielsen, was initially included on the list, which is intended to highlight young artists. Gaffa removed her after discovering her age.

“Most of us have completely ordinary lives, personal development and career paths. We use our youth to find ourselves, perhaps our thirties to find our place and have children, and then things suddenly begin to come together when we reach our forties and fifties,” Stampe wrote.

Schmidt Nielsen has said that Gaffa’s 30 year age limit reflects a structural problem in the music industry. She has received support from the Danish Artist Association and KODA, a rights organisation.

“Do you lose your talent on your 30th birthday? I do not think you do,” KODA chair Loui Törnqvist said. Törnqvist also called for a separate list of talented people aged 30 to 60.

Stampe said she did not believe Gaffa’s decision was made with malicious intent and suggested that similar structures existed elsewhere.

“Be bold and change them,” she wrote. DR said it had attempted to contact Gaffa, but the magazine had not responded.